"Their blue field," the tight end said of Boise State's artificial surface at Bronco Stadium. "I didn't know anything about the team or anything else. I just knew they had a blue field, and that stuck out. It was something different."

Being different - along with winning - helped Boise State become a national name in college football. The Broncos were 12-1 this season - their sixth consecutive year with at least 10 wins.

And like many schools outside of Texas, the Broncos started and continue a pipeline from Houston to its campus nearly 1,900 miles away.

"They realize that they're getting players who were ready for the game at the next level who might have had a little more competition than, say, another player from another state where football isn't as big," Klein's Weaver said.

Perhaps the biggest factor helping Boise State recruit Houston is winning on a big stage. A national audience watched the Broncos beat Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl.

"That was the validation," said Dekaney coach Willie Amendola, who attended the game. "They've always been pretty good. People have known about them, but people always said, 'Well, that's Boise. They don't play anybody.'

"Then when they beat them, they got some credibility."

Being different helps

Nance remembers seeing an offense not afraid to take chances. The Broncos used a hook-and-ladder play to send the game to overtime and a Statue of Liberty play to win.

Rhodes was at the 2010 Fiesta Bowl when the Broncos beat TCU.

The four are friends, though Nance, Weaver and Rhodes were District 13-5A rivals last season.

"We talk about it all the time," Demas said. "Just knowing I'm going to a part of this uprising. They're making a big movement, and I get to be a part of that."